The Road Less Traveled
by Shinderera
Summary: Winnie makes a choice. She only prays it was the right one.


At seventeen she pulled her hair into a stern bun to make her look older, but tied it with a colorful bow because she was still young. At eighteen she stuffed little bits of cloth into her bodice, to make her breasts look just a bit bigger. So it would seem that she was changing, if only just a little bit. At twenty she wore make-up. Subdued colors so the innocent roundness of her face seemed less obvious. So she seemed to be growing up. By twenty-one her mother demanded she marry. And that was when she packed a few of her things-just keepsakes and money-and left.

She made a choice. It was not an easy one and sometimes she still wondered if it was the right one. Was she only being young and foolish? Would Jesse really come back for her? Would he still love her then? Or was it all even real? It was so fantastic...so wonderful..it could have easily have been a dream. But then she would look into the mirror with only the sun shining through her window lighting the room and know. Know it was real.

In her face, unchanged since the day she drank from that magickal spring, she would know. Jesse, Mae, Angus, Miles..they were real...they were out there somewhere. Mae and Angus were probably sitting on a porch in a different house not unlike their one in Treegap Forest. Miles was probably off somewhere alone lost in his memories, unable to forget, unable to move on. Jesse was probably far far away in some distant and foreign land exploring..making new stories to tell her when she saw him again.

She prayed she would see him again.

When she was younger and truly looked her age she was given two choices. A real life that carried her on a path that was non-negotiable yet completely natural. One that could only go forward and eventually-end. Or she could do something simple, something as simple as drinking from a spring and leave that familiar and natural path and venture into the unknown. Onto a different path. One that could lead her to Jesse. The first boy she ever loved.

He and his family had given her so much. They gave her freedom. They gave her joy. And Jesse..Jesse who had brought out all this life in her. Life that she didn't even know she had. And yet...to take this path..this unknown and mysterious path meant nothing but questions and uncertainty. Would she really see Jesse again? And how long? Would he still love her? Would she still love him? Would it be worth it?

She remembered the day her grandmother died. Seeing her there..old and short of breath. Winnie watched her mother climb into bed with her own mother and hold her until she died. It was frightening. Knowing that one day..this would be her. If she got married, if she had children. If she lived her life the way it was meant to be lived. It was very..comforting. Tempting. The assurance of it. Yes her life would still hold many questions and uncertainties but it would have a future..and a straight path that would have a destination.

She remembered what Angus Tuck had said to her. She remembered every word. She knew..he was trying to protect her. Knew that he was right. But...but that straight and forward-only path was missing one thing.

Jesse. And...she wanted to see him again. Be with him again. She wanted things to go back to the way they were when she was with him. But..how could she know if things would really be...forever..and in love. She was a young girl..a young girl in love and full of dreams. Dreams can end.

Jesse may forget about her. May find someone else. Or simply just may not love her anymore. How could she really know? So on the night after her grandmother's funeral, Winnie Foster sat in her room by her window. It was dark and all she could see were shadows. And in the shadows she saw her life as it would naturally progress. Womanhood. Husband. Children. Death. Happiness and comfort. Safe. A little constricting. The shadows danced and moved and she saw herself drink from the spring. She watched her family, her mother..grow older and older while she didn't. And the thought brought tears to her eyes. Watching her mother die...while she never even aged..was more terrifying than anything else. The thought hadn't even occured to her until that night.

But then..she saw Jesse. Standing outside the gates of her home. Smiling, holding out his hand to her. And she saw more than happiness and comfort. She saw fulfillment. And she knew..what choice she had to make.

And so she did.

And now..the path she should've stayed on was demanding that she return to it, even if she was no longer able. The pressures of a young girl in her time were weighing her down and another choice had to be made. Like before..she knew it was the only one she could make. She was glad though. She did not want to watch her parents get old and die while remained forever a young teenager.

After five years on her own working as a seamstress she wondered how Jesse would find her. It made all her resolve break and she cried hard right then, working on a piece of what would be a wonderful evening gown. All that she had given up..for him. And they may never find each other. She was no longer in Treegap. How could she stay there and never get any older? But then she thought...they had an eternity to find each other. Or an eternity to forget each other. She did not want to live her forever alone. But she couldn't imagine being with any one but Jesse. The short time they spent together, remebering and still loving him, kept her going day after day.

Time moved and Winnie remained. By 1999 she was lonely and almost lost all hope. She cried almost every night at what she had given up. What she had lost and what she believed would never come.

Every year she moved closer and closer to Treegap. When she was younger and her parents still alive she had moved as far away as she could so no one would see her and recognize her. She still needed to move every few years to keep her secret. But in the last couple of decades she began moving closer and closer to her childhood home. Town by town. Memories of Jesse playing in her mind non stop.

Until one day..she walked up a little path that hadn't changed in a century and found herself at the gates of a very old, very big house. It was no longer owned by the Fosters. It would've remained in the family had she remained. She regretted that a little. But only a little.

She heard an engine roar and she jumped. Still not used to such noisy horrid things. When she heard the of trees rustling, someone getting closer, she looked arounf frantically for a place to hide. Not wanting to be seen. How would she explain that? She lept into a bush grateful for the marvelous invention that were jeans. Though it had taken her years to get used to the idea of women dressing like men and then dressing like one herself. Though she supposed she did see the femininity of the floral stitching on the pant leg of the jeans..but still. It was odd for a girl born so long ago. Yet..hiding in a thorny bush and sitting on rough ground was just as odd and making her very grateful for the jeans.

Curiosly she peeked through the thick leaves at who had approached the gates. A young man in dressed casually and modernly. With long, but not too long hair. A hand ran through it. He looked as if he was searching for something. He turned around, looking out into the woods. She gasped...tears flooding her eyes. Without even thinking, she lept from her hiding place tripping over the branches of the bush, not not caring.

"JESSE!!" She got to him as fast as she possibly could with a little branch broken off from the bush snagged onto her jeans. His eyes were wide and he was smiling as happily as she knew she was too. And then..his arms were around her and she cried. Cried so hard and laughed. He had come for her. He had come for her. He still loved her and she still loved him and he had come for her. He was here now and she was with him and they had eternity. The years without him melted away and she was home.


End file.
